1244 Sp
<-Chronicle 11/15/2017 Lucca and Paolo went to Durenmar to see if giving them a copy of Vecuum Tempes Ignem book would get them an audience with the head of Durenmar, Murion, in the hopes of both informing House Bonisagus of Tremere‘ Plans and giving our scribe a semi permanent place in Durenmar’s library so he could start copying the basic lab texts of Durenmar. Vecuum’s book did grant Lucca and Paolo an audience with Murion. And when they told her about Tremere’s plans she asked them if it was really worth going to war with the Tremere over the control of a few mundane rulers. She let our group know that Bonisagus was already aware of Tremere’s plans and while she thanked us for telling her it was not something that they were willing to go to war over. She did give our scribe a permanent copying room for 5 years to copy any standard lab text (I.E. any in the core rule book) at a level of 30 or lower. The group (Lucca, Lorenzo, and Marion) then went to Harco to tell Insatella, head of Harco, about Tremere’s plans. We were given an audience with Insatella and told her about what Tremere was going to do. She told them that she had heard rumors about how Tremere had been moving things around as if they were up to something. When we mentioned that some of the Redcaps might be ensorcelled by Tremere she said that another Gifted Mercere here at Harco by the name of Laura, might have more information about that and to speak to her. Insatella was concerned about what Tremere was doing and wanted to help, but she didn’t want her “family” (House Mercere)to be put in the crosshairs of a war with Tremere. She asked that what ever we did we wouldn’t put her “family” in danger. We found Laura and told her what we knew and she told us to follow her. She took us to a small courtyard that had a Redcap in a set of stocks. She told us that this Redcap had allowed someone to enter the vaults of Harco and that person had taken all the arcane connections to the various Redcaps and the keys to the Various Mercere portals. When we asked her who had done this she said to talk to the idiot in the stocks. The man in stocks said that an albino (which at this point Lucca started swearing fluently) had met him outside of Venice and told him if he left the door to the Harco Vaults unlocked he would give the Redcaps the power of the Gift. So this idiot Redcap left the doors to the vault unlocked and waited with his back turned. He said he heard the vault door open and a few minutes later he heard the vault down shut (I.e the signal that the thief was gone and he could turn around). When we pressed him for details he said that he thought the smell of the thief was that of a woman. So Lucca cast a CrIm spell to recreate the scent of Corvina (The HRE’s court magician. The Redcap said he was sure but he thought that was the same smell. At this point Lorenzo realized that he was compromised and told the rest of the group that he could no longer travel with them, because any new information he got Tremere could pull from his mind/scry him. He told them that he would remain behind at Harco and to not trust any message he might send in the future until the arcane connections were recovered. He asked the group to take his supply of Vis and store it in our Covenant’s treasury. After this the group went to Otto the Praeco of the Roman Tribunal to see if he could tells us who had suggested that the Tribunal should be moved away from Venice and moved to Palermo. When the group arrived they found Galerius standing outside Otto’s house. They told Galerius that they had come to ask Otto who had suggested the Tribunal to be moved to Palermo. Which Galerius said was going to be a problem, because Otto had gone into Twilight. Galerius also told them that he was the one to suggest Palermo to Otto, because of all the magical attacks on the Doge and the others in line for the Doge had made Venice a bad place to hold the Tribunal. When they went into Otto’s house they found him in the hazy look of someone in twilight. In one of his hands was a crumpled paper that said “I Otto, upon falling into Twilight name my successor to be” and the rest was crumpled in his hand. Which meant that because it was one with his person in Twilight it couldn’t be affected by anything until He came out of Twilight. When the group asked Galerius who would be the next Praeco. Galerius said he wasn’t sure. It would have to be decided by the elder members of the Tribunal, all the Magi who didn’t attend the last Tribunal in Palermo. When we asked him why they didn’t attend Galerius said he suspected they were going to a different meeting. So our group returned home to think of what we could do next, and we decided that we would jump ahead to winter of 1244, because that is the time that Simeon and Leticia would be returning to Punta Rossa. So we could try applying Pressure on the HRE to see if anything happens, or we could use the Living Flame fire amulets to travel into the Ignem plane of the magic realm and confront Vecuum Tempes. On an interesting side note, Paolo completed during fall of 1244 a ritual spell that will make the person the spell is cast on have a permanent +1 increase to their stamina per casting, up to +3. Lucca transported Artaneus and his family to Durenmar and obtained lodgings supplies and support for them in Durenmar. He intends to check on him every Sunday to make sure he has everything he needs and to see if he needs a break. Constructions of shelves have begun to be named "The Murion Library" in the Covenant. Lucca's Retelling: " ☀Lucca will tell Sylvanus this in the Magic Realm. "They hate us. They hate me. She made fun of me. Of ME! Lucca and Paolo spoke with Murion Praeco of Bonisagus and the Rhine Tribunal, Princeps of Durenmar. She was curt. I told her of the impending attack and she said something to the effect of: "So what?" She asked what would happen if an army marched to battle and no opposing army met it. I said that what usually happens is that the towns are burned and the people are killed. I mean, that's what armies do, right? I became... flustered. More flustered that I should have. Hungarian women. You can never tell what they're thinking. I told her about the warehouses burning and the warehouses full of magic items, I told her about the attacks on myself, my grog, and the other Quaesitor by Marcus. Again, she said that we don't have any idea what they intend with the attack. She specifically said that she had given no advice when I suggested that her question about unopposed armies was a suggestion, and she said that I had informed her of things she did not know when I asked if I'd told her anything that she did not already know. She gave us a letter to give to the library authorizing us for the next 5 years to copy any spell tomes of 30 or less. Lucca set Artaneus up with a home in Durenmar and gave him authority to hire whomever he needed and to purchase whatever he needed to make sure that our gifted corner of the library was full and productive for the next 5 years. Lucca intends to go to Durenmar every Sunday for the next 5 years to take supplies and to make sure all goes well. Lucca, Lorenzo, and Marion went to Harco next and spoke with Insatella and this next part is why we're standing here on this uncomfortable hillside with the Angel-Men looking upon us to talk. This information must not spread. A redcap whom I was not allowed to violate allowed a woman that did not not smell like Corvina to enter the keyroom of Harco. She took the Keytones of the Mercere portals, and the arcane connections to all the Mercere. I'd like to be clear on this point. Harco does not keep arcane connections to the Family. The Family stores arcane connections to themselves there for use in times of emergency. We are professional wanderers and messengers and are famous for travelling battlefields. It is a precaution that we take neccessarily. She stole them and the keystones. Our only evidence that it was her is that the GODDAMNED CUM-SWILLING MORON OF A REDCAP thought the intruder smelled like a woman and when I reproduced Corvina's scent (such as I remember it) he said it might be the same. He was originally approached days before by an albino promising that all the Mercere could have the gift were he simply to leave the keyroom unlocked. Also, Paolo is a genius. He made me heartier." (Paolo invented a spell that increases Stamina permanently up to +3. It costs 10 vis per point.)"